The Quest for Vengence
by Shadow4
Summary: When Dedicate Moonsong is murdered, Shadow, must avenge her death.
1. Prologue

  
Prologue  
  
Inky blackness, dark of night,  
Within evil, the nameless fights,  
His Mecha is Nightstalker, Shadow he is called,  
Within his mental prowess, evil is enthralled.  
A man called Scythe, and his minion,  
Who goes by Raja, of the Dominion,  
murder innocent Dedicate Moonsong,  
Who has sworn to do no wrong  
Her sister an Empress,  
Her brother unnamed  
Will be avenged, else honor be shamed 


	2. Vengence

Chapter 1: Vengance  
  
Slowly, the teenage boy made his way through a crowd, trying to see the topic of their interest. As   
he shoved his way between two particularly obnoxious onlookers, he saw the one thing that scared him, the   
one thing that he had been hoping, praying would not happen. She was dead. His charge, Head Dedicate   
Moonsong of the Temple of the Stars, had been murdered.  
It was his fault, and he knew it. He should have kept a better eye on her from the beginning. Had   
he only placed the psychic tracker on her robe, he could have prevented her from being slain like this. He   
was a failure in this job, his first failure in a long time. Slowly, the teen turned and walked away, hoping   
that none would realize that he was affiliated with the Dedicate in any way. It was easier that way, to be   
ignored, for him to get away, and live his life. He turned for one last look at the scene, felt the familiar   
burn-like sensation on the left side of his brain that meant his psychic power was being used, and had the   
feeling that this would follow him past this incident. As if anything could follow the Shadow.  
  
* * *  
  
Miles above the Earth, a small object unfolds, revealing its true form. While vaguely humanoid,   
the angles were too sharp, the proportions wrong. The figure, made of the most refined black onyx and   
obsidian, is none other than Shadow's custom mobile suit, the Nightstalker. Its mission was simple, to land   
outside the city of Cirrus in order to hide itself. This time, though, it was someone other than Shadow at the   
helm.  
"More than too easy," remarked Raja Fireborn to his partner and friend, Kaado. "If he were a   
smarter fellow, he would have put a eye-scanner on his mobile suit, along with the voice imprint and the   
keycard. Stupid of me, I thought that he of all people, would take extra precautions on his most prized   
possession."  
"Perhaps he felt that none would dare challenge him, after all, he did overthrow the dictatorship on   
the Providence Space Station single-handed," replied Kaado, running his fingers over the graceful control   
panel in the passenger's seat. "Most people respect him for that, and he seems to have gained the   
acceptance he wanted."  
"True, but he only has that respect when he goes by the alias of Andrew Stewart. Other times, he   
is hunted by the very people that revere him under another name."  
"I never understood that, why would he not use his given name, or even just choose one, and stick   
with it?"  
"It's because he is ashamed of who he was, and tries to hide from his past. The aliases he takes are   
always him, yet only a fraction of his true personality. He can be anything he wants to be, because of who   
he is."  
Turning, Kaado looks directly at the thief with inquisitive eyes. "Raja, how do you know so much   
about Shadow? It's almost as if you have know him since you were born."  
"Kaado, dear friend, that is a ques – What the hell?" An alarm started going off on the pilot's   
control panel, making a loud, long buzzing sound that startled Kaado so much that he fell out of his seat.  
As the Nightstalker begins to fold back up into it's bird mode, a yellow gas begins to fill the   
cockpit, and the duo found they were struggling to keep their eyes open. In a desperate attempt to stay   
conscious, Raja placed his handkerchief over his face, but the sleeping gas was too strong, and soon   
overtook him as it had Kaado. 


	3. Capture

Chapter 2: Capture  
  
A short distance away from the city, Shadow stood the hint of a smile on his face. He is holding a   
small device with several buttons on it, the remote operating device for the Nightstalker. A short while   
later, the suit lands on the small field in front of its owner. In bird mode, the mobile suit looks like a raven   
with engines. Contrary to that is its robot mode, in which it looks like an ancient warrior, decked out with   
the full kit of sword, shield and quarterstaff, with the addition of small head-cannons, leg and shoulder-  
mounted missile racks and the large energy rifle. The suit and all of its accessories were made of   
gundanium armor coated with onyx and obsidian, to reflect and focus enemy attacks. It is quite an   
impressive sight, even to Shadow, and had cost more money than some countries have in their treasury.   
Walking over to the hatch cover, Shadow threw it open to find the two would-be thieves fast   
asleep, and the cockpit stinking of the sleeping gas. After removing Raja and Kaado from Nightstalker, and   
tying them up, Shadow woke the pair up with a bucket of ice-cold water and started questioning them   
intensely.  
"Who are you? What business do you have with me?"  
"My name is Kaado, and this is my companion Raja. We will tell you nothing."  
Raja remained silent, with the handkerchief still over his face.  
"Do you really wish to make this that much harder upon yourself, Kaado?" Shadow asked, gazing   
intently at the boy's face.   
"Wh-what do you mean?"  
"I am psychic, I can extract the information out of you if you will not tell me what I want to know,   
and I assure you, it will be painful."  
Raja, who until this point had remained silent, spoke up. "Don't harm him, Lance. I will tell you   
what you want to know."  
"Is that the voice of my old thieving partner, Rigel Gunnerson, I hear? At least you have not lost   
your sense. Who are you working for?" When Raja did not answer immediately, Shadow grew stern.   
"Quick, now, I don't have all day."  
"Aye, that was my name. I go by Raja now."  
Kaado whispered to Raja, "You know this man personally? Why didn't you tell me?"  
"I didn't want you to know. You are yet too young to fully understand," was the whispered reply.  
Shadow nudged Raja with the toe of his boot. "Who you are working for, tell me now, or will I   
have to get mean?"   
"I work for a man named Scythe, Kai Scythe."  
"Thank you. Now why did you steal the Nightstalker?"  
Kaado piped up, "Scythe was looking to sell it on the black market, and make a fortune off of it.   
Other than that, we aren't allowed to tell you anything else."  
"Now, now, it's not nice to keep secrets, let me hear it. What have you got to say?"  
This time Raja spoke. "Scythe wanted to get back at you for what you did to him, all those years   
ago. He hasn't forgotten, and still wears his anger like a cloak."  
"I have done nothing to him, I have only just heard of the man. Stop accusing me, and answer my   
questions."  
"Does the name Akima Portal strike your memory? He took another name after the 'work   
accident' you caused. It was too much for him to bear, being outcast from the entire colony."  
"Raja, I thought this was behind us. How did he survive? The explosion alone was enough to kill a   
man, not to mention the radiation."  
"He was in the supply room when the bomb went off, and ran as soon as he could. He was lucky."  
Kaado, by now thoroughly confused, started to complain of his wrists, moaning loudly. Raja   
pleaded with Shadow to untie them to finish the interrogation. Shadow relented, but got his pistol out of his   
shoulder bag first. "If either of you even think of running away, you will find yourself shot by alpha   
particles. They hurt much more than a bullet, for those of us who haven't had the pleasure of such an   
experience," he warned, addressing Kaado with the last sentence.  
"Hey, don't worry about me. I won't run away."  
"Good," Shadow spoke in a smooth, comforting tone, a change from his previous menacing growl.   
"I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to. Now then Kaado, the reason Raja and I can talk of your   
employer so fondly is it was the two of us, together, that ruined his life. However, I took the blame for all   
of it, as your partner Raja, here, is a coward without honor, and refused to accept any responsibility for the   
crime. I would have done the same, but someone saw me place the device that caused the meltdown."  
Kaado cut in, rude and blunt as usual. "So you are a coward without honor as well?" With that,   
Shadow leaned down and slapped Kaado across the face with the back of his hand.  
"Do not ever call me a coward. I have faced things worse than you could ever dream up. Next   
time, I will kill you.   
"The next time I saw him, I had been in prison for a few months, and he bailed me out. We then   
parted ways, and I haven't seen him since."  
Raja said, "I don't mean to be rude, but we do have a meeting with another client, so if you don't   
mind," gesturing at the gun, then the road.  
"Very well, I suppose I should let you go, being former partners and all. Go on then." And with   
that, Shadow turned the gun away from them, and stepped aside.  
As they were leaving, Raja called back, "Thank you Shadow, and good deals to you!" using their   
former employer's traditional parting line.  
Shadow watched them go, and wished that he could go with them. Sighing, he turned to his   
mobile suit, and entered the cockpit, closing it behind him. Slowly it rose, turning as the engines powered   
up, then shot off to the heavens, bound for another place, another job.  
* * *  
Walking slowly, and enjoying the afternoon sun, the two would-be thieves headed towards the city   
of Callo. Talking about nothing in particular, the conversation soon turned to the man once known as Lance   
Songwind, but now known by many names, and to some as Shadow.   
"So, Raja, how did you meet, um… did you call him Lance?" Kaado asked nonchalantly.  
"We both went to the Academy on Earth, and studied in the same class. Our interests were similar,   
so we saw each other often. Eventually, we became friends, though he always seemed a little stand-offish   
and refused to participate in some things that, by all rights, he should have enjoyed. A very strange   
character, that one." Raja seemed to be fond of this memory, and become more free with sharing his   
feelings than Kaado had ever seem him.  
"So, after you graduated you started to work together?" Kaado tried to take advantage of Raja's   
freedom of information.  
"No. A year or so after we graduated from the Academy, I needed help on a project, the one   
involving the armed uprising on the L-7 Colony, and called him in to help plan some of our tactics, and   
assist in leading the riot-control troops. We then started to travel together, and get jobs as a pair, a team.   
Our names were known across the system as brilliant military leaders, and at only 13 years old! It was quite   
amazing never mind that we were enrolled at the Academy before we were two."  
"So, what exactly is the Academy? You refer to it all the time, but have never told me exactly   
what it is."  
"The Academy is not really a school. The Academy is our name for the institute we were placed   
in, because of our intelligence and information absorption abilities. The same man, the famous Shia   
Blanchard, taught at Harvard and Northridge by the best military geniuses available instructed Shadow and   
me. He trained us to be perfect soldiers, those who can do the job of one hundred men in mobile suits,   
alone and unsuited. We, as well as a few others, were to be the next Alexander the Great, the next   
Napoleon, each in our own field. Mine was small team operations; his was stealth and covert operations.   
We worked together very well."  
"So why did you not take any blame for the explosion? Partner, if I can't trust you to take your   
share of the blame, them this is where we part company."  
"If I had taken partial blame, the prison sentence would have been much longer," Raja snapped,   
looking at Kaado with the most vile, dangerous expression he had ever seen. "Shadow just wanted me to   
share the punishment for his clumsiness."  
"Okay, forget I asked. I'm sorry." 


	4. Destiny

Chapter 3: Destiny  
  
The inky blackness of space closed in on the small transport ship, as it traveled to Earth. On board   
are the two most influential people in the system, the President of the Earth Sphere Alliance, and the   
Empress of Andel, the new independent colony cluster. A small, oddly shaped asteroid floated by the   
window as President Retsu Cofan watched; as it went out of view, Cofan thought he saw something about it   
change and took a second look, only to dismiss it as an illusion. He had been under a lot of stress lately, and   
was waiting patiently to catch up on sleep from the past three weeks. He turned to his attendant, and asked   
her to summon Empress Jade Kobayashi to the lounge.  
"Excuse me, Your Highness?" Knocking on the door of Kobayashi's quarters, the attendant was   
quite surprised when the Empress herself answered the door. "Hello, Your Highness. President Cofan   
requests your presence in the lounge area."  
"Alright, tell him I'll be there in a few minutes. Also, tell him that next time, I would appreciate   
him coming personally, instead of sending an aide, no offense, mind you."  
"None taken. Thank you, Your Highness."  
As Kobayashi glided into the room, the underlying murmur of conversation stopped short. She   
was dressed in a stunning, strapless silver dress that fell only to mid-thigh. It was very unusual for her to be   
so immodest, and that drew attention. "No doubt this will be in the press by next week," thought the   
Empress, "I can see it now, 'Empress Kobayashi, Undressed', 'The REAL Jade Kobayashi', 'Andel's   
Empress Struts Her Stuff!' This should be good. God, I hate the media."  
"Empress! So good of you to join us! Please, sit down, relax."  
"Thank you, Mister President, and please, call me Jade. What is it you wanted to see me about?"  
"Very well. The reason I sent for you is one of a morbid nature, I'm afraid. We just received word   
that Head Dedicate Moonsong has been killed." The Empress' head snapped around so quickly that she   
spilled her drink. "Wh-what?"   
"I regret to give you the news in such a manner, but I felt that you should know as soon as   
possible."  
"Yes, ... thank you. I ... must go back to my quarters now," she said, in a very small, weak voice.   
Cofan looked at her face, and instantly understood. He asked his assistant to guard Kobayashi's door, so   
she would not be disturbed. Cofan alone knew why the news had hurt the Empress of the most powerful   
monarchy in the history of Earth. He alone knew what even the Empress' most trusted aides did not, that   
Moonsong, Head Dedicate of the Temple of the Stars, was Kobayashi's sister/mother.  



	5. Fear

  
The inky blackness of space closed in on a small transport ship, as it traveled to Earth. On board are the two most influential people in the system, the President of the Collective Alliance, and the Empress of Andel, the new independent colony cluster. A large, oddly shaped asteroid floated by the window as President Retsu Cofan watched; as it went out of view, Cofan thought he saw something about it change and took a second look, only to dismiss it as an illusion. He had been under a lot of stress lately, and was waiting patiently to catch up on sleep from the past three weeks. Sighing, he turned to his assistant, and asked her to summon Empress Jade Kobayashi to the lounge.  
"Excuse me, Your Highness?" Knocking on the door of Kobayashi's quarters, the assistant was quite surprised when the Empress herself answered the door. "Hello, Your Highness. President Cofan requests your presence in the lounge area."  
"Alright, tell him I'll be there in a few minutes. Also, tell him that next time, I would appreciate him coming personally, instead of sending an aide, no offense mind you."  
"None taken. Thank you, Your Highness."  
As Kobayashi glided into the room, the underlying murmur of conversation stopped short. She was dressed in a stunning, strapless silver dress that fell only to mid-thigh. It was very unusual for her to be so immodest, and that drew attention. "No doubt this will be in the press by next week," thought the Empress, "I can see it now, 'Empress Kobayashi, Undressed', 'The REAL Jade Kobayashi', 'Andel's Empress Struts Her Stuff!' This should be good. God, I hate the media."  
"Empress! So good of you to join us! Please, sit down and relax."  
"Thank you, Mister President, and please call me Jade. What is it you wanted to see me about?"  
"Very well. The reason I sent for you is one of a morbid nature, I'm afraid. We just received word that Head Dedicate Moonsong has been killed." The Empress' head snapped around so quickly that she spilled her drink. "Wh-what?"   
"I regret to give you the news in such a manner, but I felt that you should know as soon as possible."  
"Yes, …um, thank you. I … I must go back to my quarters now," she said, in a very small, weak voice. Cofan looked at her face, and instantly understood. He asked his assistant to guard Kobayashi's door, so she would not be disturbed. Cofan alone knew why the news had hurt the Empress of the most powerful monarchy in the history of humankind. He alone knew what even the Empress' most trusted aides did not, that Moonsong, Head Dedicate of the Temple of the Stars, was Kobayashi's sister.  
Seconds after the Empress had left the room; a large explosion rocked the small shuttle, causing the lights to go out, and a klaxon alarm to go off, warning of a possible air leak. Many were thrown from their chairs, including the President. A man in a military uniform ran to assist Cofan, and found him unconscious. The emergency lights started to glow a deep red as the door to the access tunnel door sprung open near the door to the elevator that the Empress had taken moments before. Colonel Miles Jordan recognized the man that emerged as the flight officer, and began to wonder if the explosion wasn't an accident.   
"Your attention, please. We are under attack." The man started to call. "Everyone please remain calm. The pilot has the situation under control, but we can't take any chances. Therefore, I would like you to all return to your suites and prepare for the unlikely event of abandoning ship. Our mobile suit honor guard is strong and well trained, but as I said before, we can't take any chances." The officer's statement was intended to calm the passengers, but instead served the opposite purpose. Jordan raced to the window, and a scene of speed, light and death filled his eyes. As he watched a Serpent suit flew past after emerging from a small asteroid. Another suit, bearing the markings of the Preventers, dodged around the wreckage of another attacking Serpent it had just caused. The Serpent turned to face the Preventer, but was too slow and met the same fate as his comrade, a fiery explosion.   
Turning, the Colonel saw another attacking suit destroy several Preventers before being taken down itself. Behind him, President Cofan started to regain consciousness. Moaning, he tried vainly to rise to his feet, but found a sharp pain in his leg prevented him from doing so.  
"Miles, give me a hand, you?" Colonel Jordan darted over and helped the President into a sitting position. He then got a chair, and proceeded to drag Cofan to his suite in the aft of the small transport. There they waited for about half an hour, whilst the battle continued outside. A doctor was summoned, and diagnosed Cofan with a broken ankle. The President wasn't too happy about this fact, but took it with feigned indifference.   
"Attention, all passengers, the abandon ship order has been given. Please proceed calmly to the nearest escape pod." With that, Colonel Jordan assisted the President to his private escape pod, and followed him in, as well as his assistant and the flight officer. The pod was quite large, with the space being a circle about 4 meters across. Only seconds after the pod launched, through the single window, the escapees could see the shuttle be destroyed by a mobile suit very different than the rest. The suit had a flame-red coat of armor, and stood half again as tall as the Serpent suits. It carried a double-ended beam saber, and was using it as a quarterstaff, beating opposing suits with both ends of the saber. On its back was a large, egg-shaped shield. The suit was quite formidable.  
Suddenly, as the red suit started to come after the escape pods, a dark figure appeared behind the suit, and proceeded to envelop it in a bear hug of enormous proportions. The red suit broke the hold, but lost its shield in the process. Quickly, the scarlet suit pivoted and, redrawing its beam saber, attacked the glossy black mobile suit that was merely floating in space, unmoving. The instant before the saber hit, a flash of green fog filled the sensors of its opponent. The dark suit emerged from the cloud, using a staff to beat the red suit into submission. Eventually, the attacker stopped moving, and started to slowly push itself out of the area with the rockets on its legs. The Nightstalker watched it go, making no move to stop the red suit from leaving, it's pilot, Shadow thinking of the last thing said by the pilot of the red Gundam;  
"Sadly, Shadow, it is not my time  
To die, for I am the only Rhyme,  
Ever to grace the heavens dear,  
I will avenge what happened here.  



	6. Confrontation

* * *  
"WHERE IS THE NIGHTSTALKER?" Scythe thundered. "I spend thousands of dollars, THOUSANDS, mind you, to allow you to steal ONE mobile suit, and you come back empty-handed? I suppose you buffoons just gave it back, didn't you?"  
"We didn't exactly give it back…he sort of, well, took it back," Raja whimpered.  
"Yeah, sure. And I suppose that there was a sleeping gas grenade inside, too right?" Scythe's voice was dripping with sarcasm.   
"Actually...yes there was. And...if you have a problem with that, or the fact that Shadow took the Nightstalker back …then this contract is over." As Kaado spoke, he hesitantly stood up and faced the desk that their former employer was pacing behind. Scythe was quite taken aback by Kaado suddenly taking a stand, as he was usually quiet and accepting of what other people told him to do.   
"It was already over. Please leave the premises immediately, and take your toys with you." Kai Scythe abruptly turned, and pressed a button under the edge of his desk. "Tony, please escort these two fine gentlemen out of the building." "On my way, boss." A few minutes later, a tall man with an Italian accent walked into the room and, with the large gun in his hands, gestured for the two men to follow him.   
"Hey, letsa go. I gotsa better things to do than babysit the likes of yous."   
Thrown into the dark alley behind the mob bosses warehouse, the now-unemployed duo dusted themselves off, and began to walk quietly away, into the dimly lit downtown of the L-4 colony.  



	7. Threat

"Ah, there is nothing more beautiful than a virus with the potential to destroy a colony." The man sat in a small office, following the orders given to him by the Boss. His strong hand pressed the button and the computer virus was released, causing every automated function on the XX1 colony to cease. In the blink of an eye, the colony's heart was shut down, rendering the colony helpless.  
The man laughed with an evil grin on his face. "Phase one is complete. Proceed to phase two." As he spoke, an army of Space Leo and Serpent suits landed on the outside of the colony.  
A deep, menacing voice was heard on every speaker in the colony. "Citizens of the XX1 Colony, listen. My name is Prometheus, and I am giving you a rare choice. You have a choice of being destroyed or becoming my prisoners. I have disabled the computer at the heart of your colony, and have also deactivated the air processing plants. If you do not agree to my terms, the colony will suffocate within a week. If you rebel, then my army of mobile suits will be happy to add holes to the side of the colony, draining your air just that much faster."  



	8. Spy

Silently, the small hang glider made its way over the night skyline of an industrial district. Weaving between buildings, the glider finally set down onto a large skyscraper Abruptly the wings of the glider snapped back, revealing a figure enshrouded with black and dark gray robes. The teenager produced a small handheld computer out of a hidden pocket, and leapt to the air, not leaving so much as a footprint to show that he had been there.   
The young man scanned the ground below him, using his limited psychic powers to probe the minds of the enemy, looking for a location to target. The search turned up nothing, however, and the glider flew on over the city, eventually landing for the night on a large, oddly shaped mound, concealed within the forest just outside of the city.   
In the cockpit of the Nightstalker, Shadow used his custom-designed ZERO System to analyze the data he acquired from the mind of Prometheus and his team of highly trained killers.   
Unconscious, Shadow absorbed the information, speaking parts of the data. "XX1 Colony targeted … phase 1, colony heart deactivated … phase 2, hostages … phase 3 … phase 3 … no, no it can't be, phase 3 … complete destruction of Colony XX1."  
The computer bleeped, bringing Shadow out of the interface trance, and into the real world once again. Slowly, He sat up, shaking his head to orient himself. The information was almost too much for him, he climbed out of the cockpit to get at the fresh air, and lost his balance.  
"There isn't usually this much mental stress from an interface transfer," he mused. "I should get the Zero System checked out. Perhaps Dr. Unter could take a look at it. He owes me a favor, and I think now would be an appropriate time to use it."  



End file.
